Smoking pipe



A g 1953 I E. F. SCHNEIDER 2,647,522

SMOKING PIPE Filed March 6, 1950 INVENTQR 36 Edward F. :S'c/vne ader:

Patented Aug. 4, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SMOKING PIPE Edward F.Schneider, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application March 6, 1950, Serial No. 147,855

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to smoking pipes of the character commonlyemployed in smoking tobacco.

A purpose of the invention is to avoid the unpleasant and often acridtaste of the smoke during the later stages of smoking a charge oftobacco.

A further purpose is to avoid the deposit of gummy and tarry material inthe bottom of the bowl and in the interior of the stem.

A further purpose is to light the pipe at the top of the bowl in theusual manner and after the pipe is Well lighted to invert a bowl housingand stem with respect to the bowl so that the smoke is withdrawn fromthe top instead of the .bottom of the bowl, thus reducing or eliminatingthe distillation of tarry and other objectionable products from theportion of the tobacco which has not yet begun to burn.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate one only of the numerousembodiments in which my invention may appear, selecting the form shownfrom the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactoryoperation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

Figure 1 is a perspective of the novel smoking pipe of the invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged exploded perspective of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a central longitudinal section of the pipe of Figure l insmoking position with the bowl housing and stem upright.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the pipe in smokingposition with the bowl housing and stem inverted.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to thedrawings:

In normal practice of smoking a pipe, the pipe is lighted at the top ofthe charge of tobacco in the bowl and the tobacco gradually burns downtoward the bottom. As the pipe is smoked, the hot smoke from the zone ofthe combustion travels downwardly through the as-yet unburned portion ofthe tobacco, heating such unburned tobacco to a temperature high enoughto distill off tar and other similar ingredients. The addition of theseingredients to the smoke causes the taste of the smoke to become acridor otherwise objectionable, leading to the common experience that thetaste is less palatable later in the smoke than it is during the earlierstages of the smoking of a given charge of tobacco.

The distillation of tarry and other gummy oonstituents not only impairsthe taste of the smoke, but also causes the tarry or gummy distillatesto collect around the lower edges of the interior of the bowl and in theinterior of the stem. The presence of these gummy products near thebottom of the bowl causes an adherent heel which must often be removedby scraping the bowl. The gummy products in the stem make it necessaryto insert pipe cleaners or otherwise clean the stem at frequentintervals.

These difficulties are avoided by the present invention. The pipe ilighted in the usual manner, drawing the air through from the top of thebowl and out the bottom of the bowl through the interior of the steminto the mouth of the smoker. After the pipe has been well lighted,however, and before substantial distillation of tarry products hasbegun, the direction of air travel is reversed, drawing the air in atthe bottom and out at the top. Thus the heated products of combustionare carried directly into the stem, and do not pass through unburnedtobacco where they could produce distillation. Accordingly the smokeretains the pleasant taste, during the later phases of the smoking of aparticular charge, which it had near the beginning. Gummy deposits arenot created in the bowl, the entire charge burning progressively fromthe top to the bottom, and the ash remaining friable so that it can beknocked out of the bowl readily. Likewise the interior of the stem hasless tendency to collect gummy products, and the pipe can.

be operated for a much longer time without cleaning.

The pipe consists of a stem 28, a bowl housing 2! and a bowl 22. Thestem has an interior passage 23 as well known and desirably consists ofa removable portion 24 which is held in the mouth and a. portion 25which is preferably integral with a portion of the bowl housing.

The bowl housing consists of a bottom 26 and a top 2! (considering theupright position) interthreaded at 28. The bottom and top have asuitably spherical hollow interior 30 which has a top .opening 3| at theupper portion of the top 21.

A pipe bowl 22 is received within the spherical portion 30 of theinterior of the housing and desirably has a spherical outer surface 32which conforms with the spherical interior 3!! onthe housing. The pipebowl has an interior tobacco receiving combustion chamber 33 desirablyof chamber and w th a bottom p g 35 s rab y interior stempassage 23".

of small diameter, as conventional in the bottom of existing pipe bowls.The bottom surface 36 is desirably downwardly curved at substantiallythe same curvature as the exterior spherical surface 32.

The spherical surface 30 on the inside of the housing is recessed orchanneled from the inner end ill of the interior passage 23 through thestem tothe middle38 of the bottomiil (in upright position) providing" anair passage ti! which conmeets the bottom opening 35 with the passage23.

A load of tobacco M is shown in the combustion chamber in Figures 1, 3and 4.

In operation, the pipe bowl, with the bowl: housing and stem in uprightposition as shown in Fig.- ure 3, is charged with tobacco and thetobacco is lighted in the usual way, causing combustion in the upperarea 42. Smoke is drawn downwardly through the lower portion 43 of thetobacco, and passes out through the bottom opening 35 of the bowl, then"through the passage 40' between the bowland' the bowl housing, andfinally through the stem opening 23, all as in normal practice.

As" soon as the pipe has been well lighted and is functioning properly;the user, holding the bowl at surfaces exposedthrough the opening 3| ofthe bowl housing, and keeping the bowl upright, inverts the bowl housingand stem so that thev bottom portion 28" of the bowl housing is at thetop and the top portion 2'." of the bowl housing is at the bottom'asin'Figure 4. In eifect the bowl housin andi stem pivot under themanipulation of the user on an' axis perpendicular to the plane ofthepaper through the center of the bowl, creating the inverted conditionas shown in Figure 4.- Th'at' is, the'user pivots the stem over to theleft on the above axis perpendicular to the plane of the paper, and thenthe entire pipe is turnedL around to brin it into the position howninliig. 4forconve'nienc'e in illustration. The user now continues tosmoke as in normal practice, but the air is drawn in through the bottomopening 35, passes upwardly first through the lower unburned portion.4'3 of the tobacco and then passes through the upper burning portion 42.The smoke, instead of passing through unburned tobacco, as in normalpractice, leaves the bowl at the top as indicated by the arrows inFigure 4, andpasses through the passage lil between the bowl and thebowl housing and out through the Thus the distillation of tarry andgummy products is avoided, and the ash-burns to a friable ash all theway to the bottom of the bowl, avoiding the formation of a heel. At thesame time the smoke being substantially free from gummy products, failsto deposit III-the interior of: the stem.

Whenthe user desires to recharge the pipe he may simply pivot it aroundthe axis of rotation, restoring the housing and stem to the uprightposition as. shown in Figure 3, in which condition the old charge canreadily be knocked out of the pipe and the pipe can be recharged. Therecharge will be smoked in the same way as the initial charge aspreviously described.

The pipe of. the invention offers the further advantage that it can becarried in the pocket with a charge in the bowl without spilling thecharge; In very inclement weather the pipe can also be smoked in theposition of Figure 4 Without difficulty through rain or the likeentering the'bowl When it is desired to"- clean the pipe, theinventremors-ere man advantages over normal pipe constructions. Thehousing top 2! is readily unscrewed, and the bowl can be removed. It isthen possible to gain direct access to the passage 48 and the inner endof the stem passage 23, thus greatly facilitating cleaning andinspection. The spherical surfaces are all readily accessible forcleaning. If the passage 35 clogs, access to it can be obtained at bothends to clean it out.

In view of. my invention and. disclosure, varia tions and modificationsto" meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless becomeevident to others skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of thebenefits of my invention without copying the: structure shown, and I,therefore, claim all such. insofar asthey fall within the reasonablespirit and scope of my claims.

Having thus: described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patentisz 1. In a smoking pipe, a bowl housing, a stemconnected to the: housing and a bowl angular-1y movably' mounted in thehousing, the housing and stem being invertible with respect to the bowl,the bowlhaving an open top and a bottom opening; there being a passagefrom the bottom opening of the bowl to the interior of the stem inupright position of the housing and there being a passage from the topofthe bowlto the interior of the stem the inverted position of thehousing.

2. In a' smoking pipe; abowl having a top opening, a bottom opening anda spherical exterior' contour, a bowl housing around the bowl having asubstantially spherical interior contour and a stern communicating withthe interior of the bowl housing, the bowl housing andstem beinginvertible with respect to" the bowl, and there being an air' passagefrom the bottom opening of the bowl to the interior of the stem when thehousing" and stem are upright and an interior passage from the top ofthe bowl to the interior of the stem when the bowl housing and stem areinve'rted.

In a smoking pipe; a bowl housing bottom of substantially sphericalinterior contour, a stem connected to and interiorly communicating withthe bowl housing bottom, a bowl housing top of substantially sphericalinterior contour interthreaded with the bowl housing bottom and having'an opentop when in upright position, and a substantially spherical bowlhaving an open top and a bottom opening surrounded by the bowl housingtop and bottom, there being an air passage from the bottom opening ofthe bowl to the interior of the stem when the bowl housing top andbottom and stem are upright and there being an air passage from the topof the bowl to the interior of. the: stem when: the bowl housing top andbottom and stem are inverted.

EDWARD F. SCHNEIDER.

References Cited in the file of this patent Re. 7,693 Lorilla-rd May 22,1877 154,954 Mackintosh Sept. 15, 1874 568,008 Wetzel Sept. 22, 18961,886,391 Gauvin Nov. 8, 1932 1,961,247 Powers June 5, 1934 2,274,386Simpson Feb. 24, 194-2 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 13,949 GreatBritain of 1907 353,488 France June 29, 1905

